China: What's Up With That? An Overview

Next Course Date: June 14,15, 2023

Location: Potomac Institute Ballston Headquarters (Arlington, VA)

·       Early Bird Registration Deadline - May 19th
Early Bird Tuition $2,300
·       Regular Registration Deadline - June 9th
Regular Tuition $2,500

In partnership with:

The world is changing, and the rise of China is at the center of these changes.  China’s rise is tied to its goal of being a global power. To achieve this objective China is making advances in military, technological, economic, and global power projection.  This executive course will address US perspective or China’s perspective of themselves, current and future aspects across these areas that impact US and Chinese ability to compete effectively over time.

In this two-day course, faculty will guide participants through China’s short and long-term power projection goals in economics, technological innovation, military strength, and foreign relations – outlined in the session descriptions below.

The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies invites early to mid-career professionals with an interest in understanding key elements of great power competition as it relates to China and their rise as a global and military power. This course is perfect for industry, government, and academic professionals alike with a shared goal of understanding the intersection of policy, science, and technology and its impact on U.S. ability to compete in the face of rising global competition.

Session Descriptions

Introduction to China: What’s Up with That?

This session will introduce the broad course topic and provide an overview of China to include historical perspective and some of the current challenges we face with China.

Speaker – Dr. Dean Cheng

China’s Military: National Security and the Vision of Military Power

This course will consider Chinese military modernization over the last 20 years. We will discuss the Chinese military and what it will look like over the next 10 years.

Speaker – Dr. Phillip Saunders

China’s Economy

In this session, we will consider the Chinese economy pre and post Covid. How has the pandemic affected or enhanced the Chinese economy? We will explore the economic challenges and opportunities that were present pre-covid and see where they currently are and what this means for the future.

Speaker – Dr. Derek Scissors

China’s Future Power: A Contrarian View.

In this session, we will consider cultural aspects in a discussion of how China’s challenges are far greater than commonly acknowledged. In an effort to avoid groupthink, this session will make the case that Chinese economic influence and military power have begun to decline. Unfortunately, it is precisely at this point in a society’s development when military leaders hold the most sway and dictators are at their most dangerous.

Speaker – Dr. Patrick Ennis

Innovation: The Future of Technology and China’s Role

Beyond CHIPS and critical minerals, this session will provide insight on Chinese innovation, advanced material, energy storage 5G, 6G, space and consider potential challenges that may be present in the coming years.

Speaker – Dr. Alexi Drew

Chinese Foreign Relations

This session will focus on China’s approach to global power projection to include Russia and Ukraine as well as how they have postured economic and military facilities in key areas around the globe including, Africa, Europe, across the Indo-Pacific and even the United States. What does this posture mean for great power competition and the potential to escalate tensions based on this posture?

Speaker – Mr. Robert Daly

Course Director; Dean Cheng

Education Program Manager, Lakishia Biggs

DeanCheng Dean Cheng currently a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, specializing in the US relationship with China. Prior to being with the Potomac institute, he recently retired as the Senior Research Fellow for Chinese Political and Military Affairs at the Heritage Foundation. He is fluent in Chinese, and uses Chinese language materials regularly in his work. Previously, he worked with the China Studies Division (previously, Project Asia) at the Center for Naval Analysis, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, where he specialized in Chinese military issues, with a focus on Chinese military doctrine and Chinese space capabilities. Before that, he worked for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and as an analyst with the US Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment in the International Security and Space Division.

His published work includes the volume Cyber Dragon: Inside China’s Information Warfare and Cyber Operations (Praeger Publishing, 2016). He has testified before Congress, and spoken at the National Space Symposium, the US National Defense University, the USSTRATCOM Deterrence Symposium, Harvard, and MIT. He has appeared frequently in print and broadcast media to discuss Chinese space and military activities.

Biggs

Lakishia Biggs is the Potomac Institute’s Education Program Manager. In this role she is responsible for the planning, development, coordination and administration of the Potomac Institute’s Education Program. Prior to joining the Potomac Institute, Lakishia served as the Lower School Assistant Director. In this role she worked with the Lower School administrative team to facilitate continued growth of and development of faculty by providing professional development and academic program leadership support. Lakishia also worked as a research teacher while at Norfolk Academy and brings years of educational and leadership experience from her various teaching positions to the Potomac Institute. She holds M.Ed. in Educational Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Psychology and Education from Mount Holyoke College.

Robert Daly

Robert Daly was named as the second director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson Center in August 2013. He came to the Wilson Center from the Maryland China Initiative at the University of Maryland. Prior to that, he was American Director of the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing. Robert Daly began work in U.S.-China relations as a diplomat, serving as Cultural Exchanges Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in the late 80s and early 90s.

Alexi Drew

Alexi Drew is a Technology Policy Adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross, based in the London Delegation. Her most recent other positions include senior analyst in Defense, Security, and Infrastructure at RAND Europe, a research analyst at The Policy Institute (King’s College London), and an associate at the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) at King’s, and the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET).

Patrick Ennis

Patrick Ennis has more than 30 years of experience as a scientist, engineer, businessman and venture capitalist. He is a Venture Partner at Madrona Ventures. Previously he was Global Head of Technology at Intellectual Ventures where he invested in technology commercialization worldwide. Prior to that he was at ARCH Venture Partners where he built startups from universities and national labs. He also held positions with Lucent Technologies, AT&T and Bell Labs, and conducted research in Nuclear Physics at national labs in North America and Europe.

Phillip C. Saunders

Phillip C. Saunders is the Director of the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs. He has been a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies since January 2004. Dr. Saunders served as Director of Studies for the Center for Strategic Research from 2010-12, with responsibility for supervising the Center’s research on regional, global, and functional security issues.

Derek Scissors

Derek Scissors is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on the Chinese and Indian economies and on US economic relations with Asia. He is concurrently the chief economist of the China Beige Book.